Mass distributed advertising pieces have been increasingly used by advertisers to sell their products. The distribution of these pieces, whether by mail or by insertion into newspapers or magazines, has become an effective advertising practice.
In many mailings, the advertising material is personalized by adding the name of the person who is to receive the material. For example, mailings to members of associations, or other groups such as credit card holders, or selected types of customer groups, have included personalized solicitational letters. Often, one or more other types of pieces, such as two page advertising inserts, or an order blank, or return envelope, are also included in the mailing.
These additional pieces have increased the effectiveness of the promotion. The additional pieces, although adding versatility to the advertiser promotion, frequently require additional manufacturing steps which can add significantly to the cost of producing the advertising item.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,939,888 to Katz et al. marked an advancement in the marketing industry by providing an in-line method for producing a mass distributable packet comprised of personalized inserts, such as redemption coupons for a relatively low unit cost.
Katz et al. teaches printing on a web, a format of successive rectangular pieces in a plurality of side by side lines extending parallel to the web edges, wherein the pieces are part of a common print repeat or a submultiple thereof. After printing, the web is severed along the longitudinal lines to provide individual longitudinally extending ribbons containing successive printed pieces. The ribbons are then superposed and transversely cut to produce sets of pieces, for example, coupons and the like, to be packaged for mass distribution.
In order to allow individual sets of coupons to be taken from a stack of such sets, Katz et al. provides individually inserted separators between adjacent sets, the separators being sized so that they extend beyond the set edge. Alternatively, a separate cutter is added into the production assembly in order to cut notches along one longitudinal edge of the web at spaced intervals, thereby providing selected inserts with projecting indexing edges. When the indexed sets are stacked, individual sets may be removed in succession by engagement of the projecting edge portions by a PG,4 modified sheet separating machine.
Either method of providing separators requires additional machinery adding to the overall complexity and expense of the assembly.